Power generator and power generation system

ABSTRACT

A power generator according to the present invention includes: a power generating section ( 101 ) for outputting DC energy; an oscillator ( 103 ) for converting the DC energy into RF energy having a frequency f0; a first antenna ( 107 ) for transmitting the RF energy; a second antenna, which receives, by coupling a resonant magnetic field, at least a part of the RF energy transmitted by the first antenna ( 107 ); and an output converting section ( 120 ) for converting the RF energy supplied from the second antenna ( 109 ) into AC energy having a lower frequency than the RF energy. If the oscillator ( 103 ) has a voltage step-up ratio Voc, the output converting section ( 120 ) has a voltage step-up ratio Vtr, the first inductor ( 107   a ) of the first antenna ( 107 ) has an inductance L1, the second inductor ( 109   a ) of the second antenna ( 109 ) has an inductance L2, and the first and second antennas ( 107, 109 ) have a coupling coefficient k, the power generator satisfies (L2/L1)≧(k/(Voc×Vtr)) 2 .

This application claims priority under 35 USC §119(e) to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/359,853 filed on Jun. 30, 2010, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a magnetic resonant coupling power generator and power generation system for transmitting power wirelessly using magnetic resonant coupling instead of electromagnetic induction or electromagnetic wave propagation. More particularly, the present invention relates to a power generator and power generation system for raising the voltage of electric energy, which has been generated by a power generating section such as a solar cell, by magnetic resonant coupling wireless power transmission and outputting alternating current (AC) energy.

2. Description of the Related Art

A solar power generation system ordinarily uses a so-called “solar cell module” in which a very large number of solar cells (which will be simply referred to herein as “cells”) are arranged inside a metallic frame and connected together. A glass plate is arranged in front of the solar cell module (which will be simply referred to herein as a “module”) so that the respective cells operate without being exposed to the air. And by assembling a number of such solar cell modules together, a solar power generation system can be established.

Use of such a solar power generation system, however, has not been widespread yet because the cost of manufacturing those cells and modules is too high, which is one of the major obstacles to its introduction. On top of that, the cost of establishing such a system by installing those cells and modules is also too high to neglect. Among other things, the higher the altitude of the place of installation, the riskier and the more expensive the installation work will be, which is a serious problem to overcome in order to further popularize the solar power generation system. What is more, to introduce a solar power generation system into an existing building, it is difficult to install the wiring connecting the solar power generating section outside of the building to electronic devices inside of the building, which is also one of the big problems with conventional solar power generation systems.

As will be described later, in a conventional solar power generation system, the output voltage of each of its cells is so low that a great many solar cells should be connected together to obtain a voltage that is high enough to operate an electronic device. And a decrease in reliability at such a very large number of connection points is a decisive factor in the decline of the long-term reliability of the overall system. In addition, if those modules and cables deteriorate with a long-term use, their replacements should also be installed at such a height. Consequently, the cost of maintenance is non-negligible, either.

As a conventional solar power generator that would overcome such problems, a power supply system for supplying energy wirelessly from outside of a building and through the walls of the building has been proposed (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2006-136045 (Embodiment 5 and FIG. 14), which will be referred to herein as Patent Document No. 1 for convenience sake). Such a power supply system transmits RF (radio frequency) energy through the walls by electromagnetic induction.

On the other hand, United States Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0278264 (FIGS. 9 and 12) (which will be referred to herein as Patent Document No. 2 for convenience sake) discloses a new type of wireless energy transfer system for transferring energy from one of two resonators to the other, and vice versa, through the space between them. The wireless energy transfer system couples the two resonators with each other via the evanescent tail of the oscillation energy of the resonant frequency that is produced in the space surrounding those two resonators, thereby transferring the oscillation energy wirelessly (i.e., by a non-contact method).

The power supply system disclosed in Patent Document No. 1, however, cannot overcome the solar power generation device's own problem that the output voltage of each cell is low. In the field of solar power generation, a crystalline silicon based solar cell, which is currently used broadly due to its high energy conversion efficiency, has an output voltage Vc of just about 0.5 V. For example, if the DC output of a solar power generating section needs to be converted into AC power, the operation efficiency of a normal power conditioner is maximized in response to an input voltage of approximately 300 Vdc. That is why to get that conversion done with high efficiency, the output voltage of the solar power generating section should be increased to the vicinity of 300 V by connecting as many as several hundreds of cells together in series. On the other hand, if connected to a three-wire single-phase grid system (with a working voltage of 100 V or 200 V), which is a normal household wiring system, the solar power generating section may have its output voltage increased by a power conditioner as much as 200 fold or more. Considering the decrease in power efficiency to be caused by increasing the voltage that much, it is still preferred that a very large number of cells be connected together in series to increase the output voltage of the solar power generating section as much as possible.

However, the greater the number of cells or modules to be connected together in series, the more easily the overall performance of the system will decline due to either so-called “partial shading” (i.e., some of the installation zone goes into the shade) or deterioration in the property of some of those cells or modules to be installed. To overcome such a problem, normally a countermeasure such as introduction of a bypass diode into each module is taken. Such a measure is not preferred because an excessive quantity of heat will be generated or the cost will rise significantly in that case. Meanwhile, even when the voltage needs to be increased using a normal DC/DC converter with a voltage boosting function, it is also difficult to achieve a voltage step-up ratio that is high enough to significantly reduce the number of cells to be connected together in series.

Also, the voltage boosting ability of the wireless energy transfer system disclosed in Patent Document No. 2 is limited to what should be realized by conventional transformer technology and is not effective enough to overcome those problems to be solved by the present invention.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention is provided in order to overcome the aforementioned problems with conventional systems and it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a power generator and power generation system that can increase a low output voltage of a power generating section effectively.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a power generator and power generation system that transforms such energy with an increased voltage into AC energy with a predetermined frequency and that can supply that energy flow to a grid provided by a power company (which will be referred to herein as a “utility grid”) so that the power can be sold and bought.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A power generator according to the present invention includes: a power generating section for outputting DC energy; an oscillator for converting the DC energy into RF energy having a frequency f0; a first antenna, which transmits the RF energy and which includes a first inductor and a first capacitor that are connected together in series to form a series resonant circuit with a resonant frequency fT; a second antenna, which receives, by coupling a resonant magnetic field, at least a part of the RF energy that has been transmitted by the first antenna and which includes a second inductor and a second capacitor that are connected in parallel with each other to form a parallel resonant circuit with a resonant frequency fR; and an output converting section for converting the RF energy that has been supplied from the second antenna into AC energy having a lower frequency than the RF energy. The resonant frequencies fT and fR are set to be substantially equal to the frequency f0 of the RF energy. If the oscillator has a voltage step-up ratio Voc, the output converting section has a voltage step-up ratio Vtr, the first inductor has an inductance L1, the second inductor has an inductance L2, and the first and second antennas have a coupling coefficient k, the power generator satisfies (L2/L1)≧(k/(Voc×Vtr))².

In one preferred embodiment, the power generating section is a solar power generating section.

In another preferred embodiment, (L2/L1)≧100×(k/(Voc×Vtr))² is satisfied.

In still another preferred embodiment, (L2/L1)≧10000×(k/(Voc×Vtr))² is satisfied.

In yet another preferred embodiment, the power generating section and the first antenna are arranged outside of a building.

In yet another preferred embodiment, L1<L2 is satisfied.

In yet another preferred embodiment, the number N2 of turns of the second inductor is greater than the number N1 of turns of the first inductor.

In yet another preferred embodiment, the area of the second inductor is larger than that of the first inductor.

In this particular preferred embodiment, when the first and second inductors are projected onto the first antenna's arrangement plane, the first inductor is included within an area defined by the projected profile of the second inductor.

In a specific preferred embodiment, when the first and second inductors are projected onto the first antenna's arrangement plane, the first inductor is located close to the periphery of the area defined by the projected profile of the second inductor.

In yet another preferred embodiment, the power generator includes a power branching section for connecting the output converting section to household wiring and a commercial power grid.

A power generation system according to the present invention includes a number of power generators. In at least two of the power generators, their output terminals are connected in parallel with each other, and the at least two power generators are as defined by any of the preferred embodiments of the present invention described above.

Another power generation system according to the present invention includes: a number of power generating and voltage increasing sections; and an output converting section, in which at least two of the power generating and voltage increasing sections have their output terminals connected in parallel with each other and which converts RF energy, supplied from the output terminals, into AC energy having a lower frequency than the RF energy. Each of the at least two power generating and voltage increasing sections includes: a power generating section for outputting DC energy; an oscillator for converting the DC energy into RF energy having a frequency f0; a first antenna, which transmits the RF energy and which includes a first inductor and a first capacitor that are connected together in series to form a series resonant circuit with a resonant frequency fT; and a second antenna, which receives, by coupling a resonant magnetic field, at least a part of the RF energy that has been transmitted by the first antenna and which includes a second inductor and a second capacitor that are connected in parallel with each other to form a parallel resonant circuit with a resonant frequency fR and which supplies the RF energy to the output terminals. The resonant frequencies fT and fR are set to be substantially equal to the frequency f0 of the RF energy. And if the oscillator has a voltage step-up ratio Voc, the output converting section has a voltage step-up ratio Vtr, the first inductor has an inductance L1, the second inductor has an inductance L2, and the first and second antennas have a coupling coefficient k, the power generation system satisfies (L2/L1)≧(k/(Voc×Vtr))².

A power generator and power generation system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention can increase the voltage significantly in transmitting power between antennas using magnetic resonant coupling. Also, a power generator and power generation system in accordance with other preferred embodiments of the present invention can transmit energy wirelessly by way of the space between the antennas (i.e., by a non-contact method). Thus, according to the present invention, the energy generated by a power generating section that is arranged outside of a building can be transferred to an electronic device inside of that building at an increased voltage. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the cost of installing the power generator can be reduced and the job of replacing a deteriorated part of the power generating section can be done more easily.

On top of that, according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the output voltage of the power generating section can be increased easily. That is why if the power generating section is made up of power generators (e.g., solar cells) with a low output voltage, the number of those power generators to be connected together can be reduced significantly. Consequently, if a solar power generation system is formed by connecting power generators according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention together in parallel, the deterioration due to the partial shading can be minimized and power can be supplied with good stability.

Furthermore, according to yet another preferred embodiment of the present invention, energy, of which the voltage has been increased, can be converted into energy (i.e., AC power), of which the frequency and voltage are equal to those of a utility grid power (e.g., 50 Hz or 60 Hz and 200 V, respectively). Consequently, a flow of the energy that has been generated by the power generating section can be supplied to a utility grid in order to sell power to them.

Other features, elements, processes, steps, characteristics and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the present invention with reference to the attached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a fundamental arrangement for a wireless power transmission section for use in a power generator and power generation system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates an equivalent circuit for antennas in the power generator and power generation system of the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a configuration for a power generator according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary configuration for a power generator according to the present invention, which is connected to a utility grid and household wiring.

FIG. 5 illustrates a specific preferred embodiment of a power generator according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an equivalent circuit diagram of the wireless transmission section of the power generator according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 illustrates a modified example of the power generator according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8( a) is a plan view illustrating an exemplary arrangement of two inductors and FIG. 8( b) is a schematic cross-sectional view thereof.

FIG. 9( a) is a circuit diagram illustrating a half-wave voltage doubler rectifier circuit for use in the power generator according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, while FIG. 9( b) is a circuit diagram illustrating a full-wave voltage doubler rectifier circuit for also use in the preferred embodiment.

FIGS. 10A, 10B and 10C are circuit diagrams illustrating a single-phase output inverter, a three-phase output inverter and a V-contact inverter, respectively, for use in a preferred embodiment of a power generator according to the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a circuit diagram illustrating a voltage step-up chopper for use in a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a circuit diagram illustrating an indirect matrix converter for use in a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a circuit diagram illustrating a direct matrix converter for use in a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14A illustrates, as a preferred embodiment of a power generation system according to the present invention, an arrangement for adding together the respective AC energies provided by multiple output converting sections 120 and supplying the combined energy flow thus obtained to a utility grid.

FIG. 14B illustrates, as another preferred embodiment of a power generation system according to the present invention, an arrangement in which an output converting section converts RF energies provided by multiple second antennas into DC energies, adds those DC energies together, converts the combined DC energy into AC energy, and then supplies the energy flow thus obtained to a utility grid.

FIG. 14C illustrates, as yet another preferred embodiment of a power generator according to the present invention, an arrangement in which an output converting section adds together RF energies provided by multiple second antennas and then converts the combined RF energy into AC energy.

FIG. 15 is a graph showing the dependences of the input and output impedances Zin and Zout of the wireless transmission section on the antenna-to-antenna gap in a specific example of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a graph showing how the input/output impedance conversion ratio Zr and the wireless transfer efficiency of the wireless transmission section depend on the antenna-to-antenna gap in a specific example of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a graph showing how the input/output impedance conversion ratio Zr and the wireless transfer efficiency of the wireless transmission section depend on the antenna-to-antenna gap in a first specific example of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Before preferred embodiments of a power generator and power generation system according to the present invention are described, the fundamental arrangement of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 through 4.

FIG. 1 illustrates a fundamental arrangement for a wireless power transmission unit for use in a power generator according to the present invention. In this example, the wireless power transmission unit includes an oscillator 103 with an oscillation frequency f0 and a wireless transmission section 105 including a first antenna with a resonant frequency fT and a second antenna 109 with a resonant frequency fR. Both of these resonant frequencies fT and fR are set to be equal to the frequency f0, which may fall within the range of 50 Hz to 300 GHz and preferably falls within the range of 100 kHz to 10 GHz, more preferably within the range of 500 kHz to 20 MHz. According to the intended use, the frequency f0 could also fall within either the range of 10 kHz to 1 GHz or the range of 20 kHz to 20 MHz.

The oscillator 103 receives DC energy (i.e., DC power) and converts that DC energy into RF energy having the frequency f0 (which will be referred to herein as a “DC-RF conversion”). Next, the RF energy is supplied from the oscillator 103 to the first antenna 107, which is connected to the oscillator 103. The first and second antennas 107 and 109, which are designed so as to have the same resonant frequency, are coupled together by the resonant magnetic field produced by their resonators. The second antenna 109 can receive efficiently at least a part of the RF energy that has been transmitted by the first antenna 107. The second antenna 109 is not in contact with the first antenna 107 but is located at a distance of several millimeters to several meters from the first antenna 107.

In the power generator and power generation system of the present invention, the “antenna” is an element for transferring energy from one of two objects to the other by using a coupling phenomenon that has been produced by the evanescent tail of the electromagnetic field of the resonator. According to such a wireless power transmitting technique that uses the resonant electromagnetic field, energy loss, which would otherwise be caused when an electromagnetic wave is transferred to a distant location, will not be caused, and therefore, the power can be transmitted with very high efficiency. Such an energy transmitting technique that uses the coupling phenomenon of a resonant electromagnetic field (i.e., a near field) will cause much less loss than a known non-contact power transmission that uses the Faraday's law of electromagnetic induction. For example, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, energy can be transferred between two resonators (or antennas), which have an interval of as long as several meters between them.

To carry out a wireless power transmission based on such a principle, two resonant antennas need to be coupled together by magnetic resonant coupling. As described above, according to the present invention, the resonant frequencies fT and fR are both set equal to the frequency f0 of the oscillator 103. However, fT and fR do not have to be exactly equal to, but may be substantially equal to, f0. That is to say, neither fT nor fR needs to completely agree with f0. To transfer energy with high efficiency by taking advantage of the coupling phenomenon between the two resonators, ideally fT=fR should be satisfied. But there is minimal loss as long as there is only a little difference between fT and fR. Therefore, the frequency fT is defined herein to be equal to the frequency fR if the following inequality (1) is satisfied:

|fT−fr|≦fT/QT+fR/QR  (1)

where QT is the Q factor of the first antenna as a resonator and QR is the Q factor of the second antenna as a resonator. In general, if the resonant frequency is identified by X and the Q factor of a resonator is identified by Qx, a frequency range in which that resonator produces resonance is obtained by X/Qx. If this inequality |fT−fR|≦fT/QT+fR/QR is satisfied, energy can be transferred between the two resonators by magnetic resonant coupling.

Next, reference is made to FIG. 2 which illustrates an equivalent circuit for the first and second antennas 107 and 109. As shown in FIG. 2, according to the present invention, the first antenna 107 is a series resonant circuit in which a first inductor 107 a and a first capacitor 107 b are connected together in series, while the second antenna 109 is a parallel resonant circuit in which a second inductor 109 a and a second capacitor 109 b are connected together in parallel. The series resonant circuit of the first antenna 107 has a parasitic resistance component R1 and the parallel resonant circuit of the second antenna 109 has a parasitic resistance component R2.

In a wireless power transmission unit according to the present invention, if Voc represents the voltage step-up ratio of the oscillator 103, L1 and L2 represent the inductances of the first and second inductors 107 a and 109 a, respectively, and k represents the coupling coefficient of the first and second antennas 107 and 109, these L1, L2, k and Voc values are determined so as to satisfy the following inequality:

(L2/L1)≧(k/Voc)²

If this relation is satisfied, the voltage of the RF energy output by wireless power transmission can be at least as high as that of the DC energy input. That is to say, a voltage step-up ratio of at least one can be achieved. It will be described in detail later exactly why the voltage can be increased. In this description, the “voltage step-up ratio” is defined herein to be a voltage ratio of the energy to be output from one circuit block (or a group of circuit blocks including that circuit block) in a system to the energy that has been input to that circuit block.

The power generator and power generation system of the present invention can increase a low voltage of the given energy (or power) efficiently while the power is being transmitted wirelessly.

FIG. 3 illustrates a configuration for a power generator according to the present invention. This power generator includes the wireless power transmission unit shown in FIG. 1, a power generating section 101 that supplies DC energy to the oscillator 103 of the wireless power transmission unit, and an output converting section 120 for converting the RF energy supplied from the second antenna into AC energy (i.e., AC power).

Even if the output voltage of the power generating section 101 is low, the power generator of the present invention can still output power with a high voltage thanks to the voltage increase effect. Consequently, the power generator of the present invention can efficiently increase the voltage of low-voltage energy (or power) that has been generated by a power generating section consisting of solar cells (i.e., a solar power generating section), for example. That is why the number of cells to be connected together in series can be reduced significantly. As a result, a new type of solar power generation system, which can be installed and maintained at lower cost and the use of which will be quickly widespread in the near future, is provided.

The power generating devices that form the power generating section of the present invention do not have to be solar cells but may also be any other type of power generating devices as well. For example, the power generating section may include fuel cells. The voltage increase effect of the present invention will also be achieved significantly in fuel cells because a fuel cell outputs DC energy with a relatively low voltage and is used in conjunction with a high-voltage system.

In addition, according to the present invention, not just can the voltage of the power being transmitted wirelessly be increased but also can AC energy, of which the frequency and voltage agree with those of AC energy for household use, be output by using the output converting section 120. A specific configuration for the output converting section 120 will be described in detail later.

FIG. 4 illustrates how the power generator of the present invention may be connected to household wiring and the utility grid of a power company. As shown in FIG. 4, this power generator includes a power branching section 130 between the output converting section 120 and the utility grid. The power branching section 130 connects one of the two output terminals of the output converting section 120 to the household wiring and the other output terminal to the utility grid, respectively. By turning this power branching section 130, the destination of the output AC energy of the output converting section 120 can be arbitrarily changed from the household wiring into the utility grid, and vice versa.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the output converting section 120 is connected to the second antenna 109. That is why a voltage step-up ratio of at least one can be achieved if the following inequality is satisfied:

(L2/L1)≦(k/(Voc×Vtr))²

where Vtr represents the voltage step-up ratio of the output converting section 120. This respect will also be described in detail later.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Embodiment 1

First of all, a First Specific Preferred Embodiment of a power generator according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6. Specifically, FIG. 5 is a perspective view schematically illustrating the first preferred embodiment of the present invention and FIG. 6 is an equivalent circuit diagram of the wireless transmission section 105 shown in FIG. 5. In FIGS. 5 and 6, any component having substantially the same function as its counterpart shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is identified by that counterpart's reference numeral.

As shown in FIG. 5, the power generator of this preferred embodiment includes a power generating section 101, an oscillator 103, a wireless transmission section 105 and an output converting section 120, which are connected together in series.

In this preferred embodiment, the power generating section 101 includes a number of solar cells (which will be sometimes simply referred to herein as “cells”) that are connected together in series. To increase the power generation efficiency as much as possible, the solar cells are preferably crystalline silicon solar power generators. But the solar cells for use in the present invention may also be any of various other types of solar power generators that use a compound semiconductor material such as gallium arsenide or a CIS based material. Or the solar cells may even be any of numerous kinds of solar power generators that use an organic material. If a semiconductor material is used, the crystal structure of the semiconductor may be a single crystalline, polycrystalline or amorphous one. Optionally, a tandem type solar power generator, in which several types of semiconductor materials are stacked one upon the other, may also be used.

As the oscillator 103, a class D, E or F amplifier that would realize high efficiency and low distortion may be used. Or a Doherty amplifier could also be used. Optionally, a sinusoidal wave may be produced with high efficiency by arranging either a low-pass filter or a band pass filter after a switching element that generates an output signal with a distortion component.

The wireless transmission section 105 includes the first and second antennas 107 and 109. To achieve as high transfer efficiency as possible, the first and second antennas 107 and 109 are preferably arranged so as to face each other. Nevertheless, the first and second antennas 107 and 109 do not always have to face each other but could be arranged in any other way unless they cross each other at right angles.

The DC energy that has been generated by the power generating section 101 is converted by the oscillator 103 into RF energy with high efficiency. Then, the RF energy is transmitted wirelessly through the space by the wireless transmission section 105 and then output through an output terminal 119.

The first antenna 107 shown in FIG. 7 is a series resonant circuit having a first inductor 107 a and a first capacitor 107 b, while the second antenna 109 is a parallel resonant circuit having a second inductor 109 a and a second capacitor 109 b. The respective resonant frequencies fT and fR of the first and second antennas 107 and 109 are set to be approximately equal to the frequency f0 of the RF energy generated by the oscillator 103. Also, in this preferred embodiment, the output impedance Zout of the second antenna 109 is set to be higher than the input DC impedance Zidc of the oscillator 103.

Based on this principle, according to this preferred embodiment, the distance between the first and second antennas 107 and 109 may be set within the range of several millimeters to several meters, and the energy can be transferred highly efficiently between them.

In addition, according to this preferred embodiment, not only can such a non-contact connection be done wirelessly but also can the output voltage of the RF energy, provided by the second antenna 109, be increased sufficiently compared to the input voltage of the incoming RF energy that has been supplied to the first antenna 107.

To reduce multiple reflection of the RF energy between the circuit blocks and to improve the overall power generation efficiency, when the output terminal of the second antenna 109 is connected to a load, the output impedance Zoc of the RF energy of the oscillator 103 is preferably matched to the input impedance Zic of the first antenna 107. Likewise, when the oscillator 103 is connected to the first antenna 107, the output impedance Zout of the second antenna is preferably matched to the resistance value R of the connected load.

In this description, if two impedances are “equal to each other”, then the impedances may naturally be exactly equal to each other but could also be just roughly equal to each other. Specifically, if the difference between the greater and smaller impedances is within 25% of the greater one, then those two impedances will also be regarded herein as being “equal to each other”.

According to this preferred embodiment, the efficiency of the wireless power transmission depends on the gap between the first and second antennas 107 and 109 (which will be referred to herein as an “antenna-to-antenna gap”) and on the magnitude of loss caused by circuit components that form the first and second antennas 107 and 109. In this description, the “antenna-to-antenna gap” substantially means the gap between the two inductors 107 a and 109 a. The antenna-to-antenna gap can be estimated based on the feature size of the areas occupied by those antennas.

In one preferred embodiment of the present invention, the first and second inductors 107 a and 109 a both have the same planar pattern and are arranged so as to face each other and be parallel to each other. In this description, the “feature size” of the areas occupied by the antennas refers to an inductor size of the smallest one of the antennas. Specifically, if the inductor of an antenna has a circular planar pattern, then the feature size is defined to be the diameter of the inductor. On the other hand, if the inductor has a square planar pattern, the feature size is defined to be the length of each side thereof. And if the inductor has a rectangular planar pattern, the feature size is defined to be the length of its shorter sides. According to this preferred embodiment, even if the antenna-to-antenna gap is approximately 1.5 times as large as the feature size of the antenna's arrangement area, energy can also be transferred with a wireless transfer efficiency of 90% or more.

In this preferred embodiment, the first and second inductors 107 a and 109 a have a spiral structure, of which the numbers of turns are N1 and N2, respectively, where N1>1 and N2>1. However, the first and second inductors 107 a and 109 a may also have a loop structure with a number of turns of one. These inductors 107 a and 109 a do not have to be made of a single-layer conductor pattern but may also be a series connection of multiple conductor patterns that have been stacked one upon the other.

The first and second inductors 107 a and 109 a are preferably made of copper, silver or any other conductor with good electrical conductivity. As RF current with RF energy flows mostly around the surface of a conductor, the surface of the conductor may be covered with a material with high electrical conductivity to increase the power generation efficiency. If the inductors 107 a and 109 a are designed so as to have a cavity in the middle of its cross section, their weight can be reduced. Furthermore, if the inductors 107 a and 109 a are formed by adopting a parallel wiring structure with Litz wires, for example, then the conductor loss per unit length can be reduced and the Q factors of the series resonant circuit and the parallel resonant circuit can be increased. As a result, power can be transmitted with even higher efficiency.

To cut down the manufacturing cost, the wiring may be formed at a time by ink printing technique. If necessary, a magnetic body may be arranged near the first and/or second inductor(s) 107 a, 109 a. However, the coupling coefficient between the first and second inductors 107 a and 109 a should not be set to be an excessively high value. For that reason, it is more preferred that inductors with an air-core spiral structure, which can set the coupling coefficient between the first and second inductors 107 a and 109 a to a moderate value, be used.

As the first and second capacitors 107 b and 109 b, any type of capacitors, which may have a chip shape, a lead shape or any other appropriate shape, may be used. Optionally, the capacitance produced between two levels of wires that interpose the air between them could also function as the first and second capacitors 107 b and 109 b. If the first and second capacitors 107 b and 109 b are implemented as MIM capacitors, a low-loss capacitor circuit can be formed by known semiconductor device processing or multilevel circuit board process.

To increase their long-term reliability, those components (such as inductors and capacitors) that form the first and second antennas 107 and 109 are preferably housed in a protective housing 117, which is preferably a waterproof or heat resistant one.

To minimize the transmission loss, the first and second antennas 107 and 109 are preferably arranged as close to each other as possible. Nevertheless, in order to adjust the voltage step-up ratio to a desired value, their positions inside the protective housing 117 may be changed.

Optionally, the protective housing 117 may be directly fixed on some external member such as the roof. If a ferromagnetic body and a magnet are provided for the protective housing 117 and the external member, respectively, so that the strength of magnetic coupling between the first and second antennas 107 and 109 is not affected, then the protective housing 117 can be readily attached to, and removed from, the external member by using magnetic force produced between the ferromagnetic body and the magnet. Alternatively, the protective housing 117 may be attached to, and removed from, the external member by providing a sucker for either the protective housing 117 or the external member.

Next, the voltage increase effect produced by the power generator of this preferred embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 6. It should be noted that if the output converting section 120 is connected after the second antenna 109, the voltage is increased to varying degrees according to the configuration of the output converting section 120. Thus, to make the feature of the present invention more easily understandable, it will be described first how much the voltage can be increased if no output converting section 120 is connected after the second antenna 109. The degree of voltage increase achieved by connecting the output converting section 120 after the second antenna 109 will be described in detail after the configuration of the output converting section 120 has been described.

Suppose the first antenna 107 at the transmitting end and the second antenna 109 at the receiving end are coupled with each other at a coupling coefficient k. By measuring the two resonant frequencies fL and fH to be isolated when two resonators (i.e., the antennas 107 and 109) that produce resonance at the same frequency f0 are arranged close to each other, the coupling coefficient can be derived by the following Equation (2):

k=(fH ² −fL ²)/(fH ² +fL ²)  (2)

The frequency f0 of the oscillator 103 is preferably set to be close to the resonant frequencies fL and fH. More specifically, if the Q factors of the pair of coupled resonators at the resonant frequencies fL and fH are represented by QL and QH, respectively, f0 is preferably set so as to satisfy the following inequality (3):

fL−fL/QL≦f0≦fH+fH/QH  (3)

Also, the mutual inductance M produced between the first inductor 107 a with the inductance L1 and the second inductor 109 a with the inductance L2 and the coupling coefficient k satisfy the following Equation (4):

M=k×(L1×L2)^(0.5)  (4)

Supposing in the parallel resonant circuit of the second antenna 109, the RF current flowing through the second inductor 109 a is identified by IL2 and the RF current flowing through the second capacitor 109 b is identified by IC2, the output RF current I2 flowing in the direction shown in FIG. 6 is represented by the following Equation (5):

I2=−IL2−IC2  (5)

Also, supposing the RF current flowing through the first inductor 107 a is identified by IL1, the following Equation (6) can be derived using the RF current IL2 flowing through the second inductor 109 a, the RF current IC2 flowing through the second capacitor 109 b, the inductance L2 of the second inductor 109 a, the parasitic resistance R2 of the second inductor 109 a, the inductance L1 of the first inductor 107 a and the capacitance C2 of the second capacitor 109 b:

(R2−jωL2)×IL2+jωM×IL1=IC2/(jωC2)  (6)

Since the resonance condition is satisfied by the second antenna 109, the following Equation (7) is met:

ωL2=1/(ωC2)  (7)

The following Equation (8) can be derived from Equations (5), (6) and (7):

R2×IL2+jωM×IL1=jωL2×I2  (8)

By modifying this Equation (8), the following Equation (9) is obtained:

I2=k×(L1/L2)^(0.5) ×IL1−j(R2/ωL2)×IL2  (9)

On the other hand, an index Q factor for evaluating the degree of low loss of the resonator of the first antenna 107 is given by the following Equation (10):

Q2=ωL2/R2  (10)

In this case, if the Q factor of the resonator is very high, approximation that neglects the second term of the right side of Equation (9) is permitted. Thus, the magnitude of the RF current (output current) 12 produced by the second antenna 109 is eventually derived by the following Equation (11):

I2=k×(L1/L2)^(0.5) ×IL1  (11)

In this case, the RF current I2 depends on the RF current I1 supplied to the resonator at the transmitting end (i.e., the first antenna 107), which will be the RF current IL1 flowing through the first inductor 107 a, the coupling coefficient k between the resonators (antennas), and the first and second inductances L1 and L2.

As can be seen from Equation (11), the current step-up ratio Ir of the power generator of this preferred embodiment is represented by the following Equation (12):

Ir=|I2/I1|/Voc=k/Voc×(L1/L2)^(0.5)  (12)

The current step-up ratio of the power generator represented by this Equation (12) is obtained as the product of the current step-up ratio of the wireless transmission section 105 and that of the oscillator 103 (which is the inverse number of its voltage step-up ratio Voc).

Also, the voltage step-up ratio Vr and the impedance conversion ratio Zr are given by the following Equations (13) and (14), respectively:

Vr=(Voc/k)×(L2/L1)^(0.5)  (13)

Zr=(Voc/k)²×(L2/L1)  (14)

As can be seen from Equation (13), if (L2/L1)>(k/Voc)² is satisfied, the voltage step-up ratio Vr is greater than one. Thus, it can be seen that as the coupling coefficient k falls, the voltage step-up ratio Vr rises. According to the conventional energy transfer method by electromagnetic induction, a decrease in coupling coefficient k will lead to a steep decrease in transfer efficiency. According to the magnetic resonant coupling method of the present invention, however, any decrease in coupling coefficient k will never cause such a steep decrease in transfer efficiency. Particularly if the respective Q factors of the resonators that are used as the first and second antennas 107 and 109 are set to be high values, the decrease in transfer efficiency can be minimized with the voltage step-up ratio Vr increased.

To avoid the influence of partial shading on a solar power generation system, a parallel connection of multiple solar power generating sections is more preferred to a series connection of a lot of solar power generating sections. To make a parallel connection of two solar power generating sections realize the same voltage characteristic as what is normally achieved by a series connection of two solar power generating sections, the output voltages of the respective solar power generating sections need to be doubled.

As can be seen from Equation (12), the voltage step-up ratio Vr gets equal to two when (L2/L1)=4×(k/Voc)² is satisfied. Since that relation (L2/L1)≧4×(k/Voc)² is satisfied according to the present invention, a voltage step-up ratio Vr of 2 or more can be achieved.

If (L2/L1)≧100×(k/Voc)² is satisfied, a voltage step-up ratio Vr of 10 or more is achieved. And if (L2/L1)≧10000×(k/Voc)² is satisfied, a voltage step-up ratio Vr of 100 or more is achieved.

It is easy for the power generator of the present invention to set the k, Voc, L2 and L1 values so as to achieve such a high voltage step-up ratio Vr.

Hereinafter, the effects to be achieved by the power generator and power generation system of this preferred embodiment will be described in comparison with conventional ones.

In the wireless power transmission unit disclosed in Patent Document No. 2, energy is transferred between two magnetic resonators. However, as that wireless power transmission unit uses the same resonance method for the two resonators, the voltage is not increased while the energy is transferred. On the other hand, the increase in output voltage caused by the power generator and power generation system of the present invention is an effect that has never been produced by that conventional power transmission unit and that is produced solely by adopting two different resonant structures, namely, a series magnetic resonant structure and a parallel magnetic resonant structure, for the first and second antennas, respectively, and by transferring energy between those two different resonant structures.

It should be noted that a series resonant circuit and a parallel resonant circuit could also be used in a conventional RF telecommunications system such as an RF tag. However, the terminal impedance at the terminal of a probe for use to test the characteristic of an RF block of such an RF telecommunications system and the characteristic impedance of its RF cable are basically set to be 50Ω. That is why at a point of connection with an antenna of such an RF telecommunications system, circuit blocks are normally connected together with the impedance matched to 50Ω in both of its transmitter and receiver.

On the other hand, in the wireless transmission section of the present invention, the input to output impedance conversion ratio Zr is defined to be as high as over 100, or sometimes more than 20,000 depending on the conditions, as will be described later for specific examples of the present invention. And that high input to output impedance conversion ratio Zr would never have been imagined to be achievable by the conventional RF telecommunications system.

On top of that, according to the present invention, the longer the distance between the two resonators (or antennas) and the lower the coupling coefficient k, the higher the voltage step-up ratio Vr achieved will be. This is also an effect that would never have been easily expected from the structure and functions of the wireless transmission section for a known telecommunications system.

In a transformer for use in a power circuit, for example, two inductors are arranged close to each other so as to function as a sort of wireless power transmission unit. However, no magnetic resonant coupling is produced between those inductors. Also, such a transformer could achieve the voltage step-up effect by increasing the ratio of the number of turns N2 of the second inductor to the number of turns N1 of the first inductor. However, if the transformer booster has to achieve a voltage step-up ratio of 10 or more, then the number of turns N2 should be increased at least tenfold with respect to the number of turns N1. Such a significant increase in the number of turns N2 would increase the parasitic resistance component R2 in the second inductor proportionally, thus causing a decrease in transfer efficiency after all. In contrast, according to the present invention, even if the numbers of turns N1 and N2 are the same, a high Zr can still be achieved.

It should be noted that according to the present invention, there is no need to set the respective inductances L1 and L2 of the first and second inductors 107 a and 109 a to be equal to each other. For example, if the inductance L2 is set to be greater than the inductance L1, the voltage step-up ratio Vr can be increased.

FIG. 7 illustrates a preferred embodiment in which to increase the inductance L2 of the second inductor 109 a, the number of turns N2 of the second inductor 109 a is set to be greater than the number of turns N1 of the first inductor 107 a. If N2/N1 is greater than one, a high voltage step-up ratio can be achieved with smaller loss compared to a situation where the voltage is increased using a known transformer booster.

The inductance L2 can also be greater than the inductance L1 by providing a larger area for the second antenna 109 than the first antenna 107, instead of setting the N2/N1 ratio to be greater than one (with the N2/N1 ratio kept equal to one).

In the following description, at least the front side of the first and second inductors 107 a and 109 a is supposed to have a planar shape and the first and second inductors 107 a and 109 a are supposed to be arranged so as not to cross each other at right angles. FIG. 8( a) illustrates the arrangement area 113 of the second antenna 109 that has been projected perpendicularly to the plane on which the first antenna 107 is arranged. In this description, the “plane” on which the first antenna 107 is arranged is defined to be a single plane including the front side of the first inductor 107 a (which will be referred to herein as a “first arrangement plane”). FIG. 8( b) is a cross-sectional view illustrating the arrangement plane 240 of the first inductor 107 a. In the example illustrated in FIG. 8( b), the first inductor 107 a is parallel to its arrangement plane 240. On the other hand, the second antenna's arrangement area is defined herein to be an area that has been projected perpendicularly to the arrangement plane 240 of the first antenna 107 and that is surrounded with the projected profile of the second inductor 109 a.

FIG. 8( a) illustrates the first inductor 107 a that has projected perpendicularly to the arrangement plane of the first antenna 107. In the example illustrated in FIG. 8( a), the first inductor 107 a that has been projected onto the arrangement plane of the first antenna 107 is present inside of, and close to an edge of, the arrangement area 113. By adopting such an arrangement, an even higher voltage step-up ratio is achieved.

To control the voltage step-up ratio of the wireless transmission section 105, the shapes and sizes of the antennas may be defined to make an asymmetric combination and the first antenna may have a bigger size than the second antenna.

The first and second antennas 107 and 109 do not have to be arranged as shown in FIG. 8 but may have their positions switched with each other. That is to say, the first antenna 107 shown in FIG. 8 may be replaced with the second antenna 109 and the arrangement area 113 may be replaced with the arrangement area of the first antenna 107. In that case, the “arrangement area of the first antenna 107” refers to the area that has been projected onto the arrangement plane of the second antenna 109 and that is surrounded with the projected profile of the inductor 107 a. Also, the “arrangement plane of the second antenna 109” is defined to be a single plane including the front side of the second inductor 109 a (which will be referred to herein as a “second arrangement plane”). To achieve sufficiently high transfer efficiency, the first and second arrangement planes are preferably parallel to each other. But those planes do not have to be exactly parallel to each other. It should be noted that the first and second inductors 107 a and 109 a do not have to have a planar shape.

Next, the output converting section 120 for converting the output RF energy of the second antenna 109 into AC energy will be described. As shown in FIG. 5, the output converting section 120 is connected after the second antenna 109.

To reduce multiple reflection of the RF energy between the circuit blocks and to improve the overall power generation efficiency, when the output terminal of the output converting section 120 is connected to the utility grid shown in FIG. 4, the output impedance Zoc of the RF energy provided by the oscillator 103 is preferably substantially matched to the input impedance Zin of the first antenna 107. Likewise, when the oscillator 103 is connected to the first antenna 107, the output impedance Zrout of the output converting section 120 is preferably substantially matched to the input impedance R of the utility grid to be connected (FIG. 4).

The output converting section 120 is a circuit for converting the RF energy provided by the wireless transmission section 105 into an AC frequency fp and a voltage (V0±Vf) for the utility grid. The AC frequency fq may be 50 Hz or 60 Hz, which is much lower than the frequency of the RF energy (which may be 3 MHz, for example). In this case, the voltage V0 is the voltage of the grid and Vf is a permissible variation from V0. V0±Vf represents the range from V0−Vf through V0+Vf.

According to a method, the RF energy may be converted into AC energy with the frequency fp by once converting (i.e., rectifying) the RF energy into DC energy on the initial stage and then converting the DC energy into energy with the frequency fp on a stage that follows it. When the RF energy is once converted into DC energy on the initial stage, a full-wave rectifier or a bridge rectifier may be used, for example. FIG. 9( a) is a circuit diagram illustrating a half-wave voltage doubler rectifier circuit, while FIG. 9( b) is a circuit diagram illustrating a full-wave voltage doubler rectifier circuit. Each of these rectifier circuits includes a passive element such as a diode. There are other types of high voltage step-up ratio rectifier circuits that can achieve a voltage step-up ratio of three or more. And any of those various rectifier circuits may be used in the present invention.

With the voltage doubler rectifier circuit shown in FIG. 9, a DC voltage, which is twice as high as the RF voltage supplied to the output converting section 120, can be output. And by using such a rectifier circuit, the voltage that has already been increased by the wireless transmission section 105 can be further raised.

It should be noted that the rectifier circuit does not have to be a circuit including a passive element such as a diode mentioned above. Alternatively, a synchronous rectifier circuit, which makes rectification by performing ON/OFF state controls on an FET's gate using an external clock signal, may also be adopted.

As the circuit for converting the DC energy into AC energy with the frequency fp on a stage that follows the rectifier circuit, an inverter may be used, for example. FIGS. 10A, 10B and 10C are circuit diagrams illustrating a single-phase output inverter, a three-phase output inverter and a V-contact inverter, respectively.

By using any of these inverters shown in FIGS. 10A, 10B and 10C, the DC energy that has been rectified on the initial stage of the output converting section 120 can be converted and output according to the frequency fp, the voltage V0±Vf and the number of phases of the utility grid. Optionally, after having been DC-AC converted on a following stage, the energy may be passed through an AC filter. By using such a filter, unwanted harmonics and noise components can be filtered out of the energy flow to be supplied to the utility grid.

Still alternatively, by arranging a voltage step-up chopper circuit such as the one shown in FIG. 11 before the inverter circuit, the DC energy may have its voltage increased in advance and then converted into AC energy by the inverter circuit.

In the example described above, the output converting section 120 includes a rectifier circuit for converting RF energy into DC energy and an inverter for converting the DC energy into AC energy. However, this is just an example of the output converting section 120 that can be used in the present invention. Alternatively, the same conversion can also get done even by using an indirect matrix converter shown in FIG. 12. As for details of such a matrix converter, see P. Tenti, L. Malesani, L. Rossetto, “Optimum Control of N-Input K-Output Matrix Converters”, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, Vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 707-713, October. 1992, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

Optionally, the output converting section 120 may also be a circuit for converting the RF energy directly into AC energy. If a direct matrix converter such as the one shown in FIG. 13 is used, the RF energy provided by the wireless transmission section can be directly converted into the frequency fp, the voltage V0±Vf and the number of phases of the utility grid. Also, by arranging an RF filter before the matrix converter, unwanted harmonics and noise components can be filtered out of the energy to be converted into the AC frequency fp.

In the output converting section 120 of this preferred embodiment, the ratio of the voltage supplied to the output converting section 120 to the output voltage thereof (i.e., the voltage step-up ratio Vtr) varies according to the method of converting the RF energy into AC energy. For example, the input voltage can be doubled (i.e., a voltage step-up ratio of two can be achieved) by using a voltage doubler rectifier circuit. With a matrix converter, however, the output voltage can be at most 0.87 times as high as the input voltage. Furthermore, the voltage step-up ratio Vtr also varies depending on whether or not an AC filter or an RF filter is provided and according to the operating condition of a voltage step-up chopper circuit and the circuit loss thereof. To supply a flow of energy (i.e., electric power) to a utility grid, the output voltage Vsys of the output converting section 120 should fall within the range of V0±Vf (V). For example, the energy flow to be supplied to a Japanese power company's utility grid is defined to satisfy V0=202 and Vf=20. Supposing the voltage of the energy provided by the power generating section is identified by Vgen, the voltage step-up ratio Vr (=Vsys/Vgen) and the impedance conversion ratio Zr of the overall power generator of this preferred embodiment are rewritten with the voltage step-up ratio Vtr of the output converting section 120 into the following Equations (15) and (16):

Vr=(Voc×Vtr/k)×(L2/L1)^(0.5)  (15)

Zr=(Voc×Vtr/k)²×(L2/L1)  (16)

According to this preferred embodiment, if the relation (L2/L1)>(k/(Voc×Vtr))² is satisfied, the voltage step-up ratio can be greater than one as can be seen from Equation (15).

To achieve a voltage step-up ratio Vr of two or more, (L2/L1)≧4×(k/(Voc×Vtr))² needs to be satisfied. And if (L2/L1)≧100×(k/(Voc×Vtr))² is satisfied, a voltage step-up ratio Vr of 10 or more is achieved. For example, if Vgen 40 V and Vsys=182 to 222 V (i.e., 202±20V) are satisfied, then Vr may fall within the range of 4.55 to 5.55. That is why L1, L2, k, Voc and Vtr need to be controlled so as to satisfy:

4.55²×(k/(Voc×Vtr))²≦(L2/L1)≦5.55²×(k/(Voc×Vtr))²

Thus, if the Vgen value is fixed at 40 V, Vsys can fall within the range of 182 V to 222 V even if the voltage step-up ratio varies within the range of 4.55 to 5.55.

There is some tolerance (of ±20 V in this example) for the voltage of the energy flow to be supplied to a utility grid. Nevertheless, if energy flows are supplied from multiple power generators to the same utility grid, then the errors of the voltages of those energy flows would combine together to produce non-negligible harmful influence on the power grid. For that reason, Vr is preferably controlled so that Vsys becomes substantially equal to V0. In the example described above, Vr is preferably maintained at 5.05 so that Vsys becomes equal to V0=202 V.

Meanwhile, in the field of solar power generation, there is a scheme for constantly outputting the maximum power according to the quantity of sunlight falling on a solar power generation panel by performing a so-called “MPPT (maximum power point tracking)” control on the voltage generated and on the amount of current flowing. That is to say, the output voltage Vgen of a power generating section, which is subjected to a control such as MPPT, could vary with time, and therefore, a variable control sometimes needs to be performed on Vr. For example, to make Vsys fall within the range of Vsysmin (V) to Vsysmax (V) even if Vgen varies within the range of Vgenmin (V) to Vgenmax (V), the following two conditions need to be satisfied at the same time:

Vsysmin≦Vgenmin×VrVsysmax  (17)

Vsysmin≦Vgenmax×VrVsysmax  (18)

Since Vgenmin≦Vgenmax, Vr that satisfies both of these inequalities (17) and (18) needs to meet:

Vsysmin/Vgenmin≦Vr≦Vsysmax/Vgenmax  (19)

Also, if there is Vr that satisfies (19), then the first and third sides of this inequality (19) should maintain their relation as defined by this inequality (19). That is to say,

Vsysmin/Vgenmin≦Vsysmax/Vgenmax  (20)

should be satisfied.

To satisfy this inequality (20), if Vgen=35 to 40 V and Vsys=182 to 222 V, the voltage step-up ratio Vr should fall within the range of 5.2 to 5.5 as can be seen from inequality (19). And if Vr falls within this range, the minimum required condition for Vsys can be satisfied. However, since the Vsys value is preferably output as a constant value as much of the time as possible, Vr is preferably changed so that Vsys becomes constant even if Vgen varies.

Furthermore, unless inequality (20) is satisfied (i.e., if Vsysmin/Vgenmin>Vsysmax/Vgenmax is satisfied), Vr should be changed according to the Vgen value. For example, if Vgen=20 to 40 V and Vsys=182 to 222 V, inequality (20) is not satisfied. Under that condition, Vr may be changed to fall within the range of 9.1 to 11.1 if Vgen=20 V, the range of 6.07 to 7.4 if Vgen=30 V, and the range of 4.55 to 5.55 if Vgen=40 V, respectively.

As described above, Vsys is preferably controlled so as to be equal to V0. That is to say, in the example described above, if Vgen is 20, 30 and 40 V, Vr is preferably 10.1, 6.73 and 5.05, respectively, so that Vsys=202 V.

Embodiment 2

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of a power generation system according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 14A, which is a block diagram illustrating a power generation system as a second specific preferred embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 14A, any component having substantially the same function as its counterpart of the preferred embodiments described above is identified by that counterpart's reference numeral and the description thereof will be omitted herein to avoid redundancies.

The power generation system shown in FIG. 14A includes a number of power generating and voltage increasing sections 131 a, 131 b, . . . and 131 n that are connected in parallel with each other. In this preferred embodiment, each of these power generating and voltage increasing sections 131 a, 131 b, . . . and 131 n has the same configuration as a portion of the power generator of the first preferred embodiment that covers the range of the power generating section 101 through the second antenna 109. However, to achieve the effects of the present invention, at least two power generating and voltage increasing sections that are connected in parallel with each other need to have the same configuration as the power generator of the present invention. In the example illustrated in FIG. 14, the RF energy provided by each of the power generating and voltage increasing sections 131 a through 131 n is supplied to the output converting section 120. In other words, in this power generation system, the outputs of multiple power generators are connected in parallel with each other and each power generator has the configuration of the power generator of the first preferred embodiment described above.

Each of these power generating and voltage increasing sections 131 a through 131 n includes a solar power generating section 101, an oscillator 103, and first and second antennas 107, 109, which are connected together in series. In each solar power generating section 101, any number of cells may be connected together in series.

The DC energy that has been generated by the solar power generating section 101 is converted into RF energy by the oscillator 103 with high efficiency. That RF energy is next transferred by a non-contact method from the first antenna 107 at the transmitting end to the second antenna 109 at the receiving end and then converted into AC energy with the frequency fp by the output converting section 120.

In FIG. 14A, each of the output converting sections 120 includes a rectifier circuit 115 for converting the RF energy into DC energy again and an inverter 116 for converting the DC energy provided by the rectifier circuit 115 into AC energy with the frequency fp. However, the output converting section 120 does not always have to have such a configuration. For example, the output converting section 120 may also be a direct matrix converter for converting the RF energy directly into AC energy.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 14A, the AC energies (electric powers) that have been output from the multiple output converting sections 120 are added together by a parallel connection and then the combined energy flow is supplied to a utility grid.

According to this preferred embodiment, the output voltage supplied by each of these power generating and voltage increasing sections 131 a through 131 n is much higher than the output voltage of its own solar power generating section. For that reason, even if the power generating and voltage increasing sections 131 a through 131 n are connected in parallel with each other, a voltage value that is even closer to the value required by the utility grid can be obtained.

On top of that, since a number of power generating and voltage increasing sections 131 a through 131 n are connected in parallel with each other, the performance of this power generation system should be more stabilized than the conventional one even if any of those power generating and voltage increasing sections 131 a through 131 n deteriorates or if some difference was produced in the condition for irradiating the power generating and voltage increasing sections 131 a through 131 n with sunlight.

FIG. 14B illustrates a configuration for another power generation system according to the present invention. In the example illustrated in FIG. 14B, at least one output converting section 120 receives the RF energies provided by multiple power generating and voltage increasing sections 131 a through 131 n and those RF energies are converted by multiple rectifier circuits 115 into DC energies. Then, the DC energies that have been output from the respective rectifier circuits 115 are added together by a parallel connection and then the combined DC energy is converted by an inverter 116 into AC energy with the frequency fp. If the output converting section 120 has such a configuration, the number of inverters 116 required for a power generation system can be reduced.

FIG. 14C illustrates a configuration for still another power generation system according to the present invention. In the example illustrated in FIG. 14C, the RF energies provided by multiple power generating and voltage increasing sections 131 a through 131 n are added together by a parallel connection and then the combined RF energy is supplied to the output converting section 120. In this example, the rectifier circuit 115 of the output converting section 120 converts the combined RF energy into DC energy. Then, the DC energy provided by the rectifier circuit 115 is further converted by the inverter 116 into AC energy. With such a configuration adopted, the structure of the output converting section 120 can be further simplified. Optionally, the RF energy may be converted directly into AC energy using a direct matrix converter that can receive inputs in multiple phases.

According to this preferred embodiment, the energy flow may be supplied to a utility grid in accordance with an instruction given by the utility grid. For example, if the output voltage of the output converting section 120 is significantly different from the voltage specified by the utility grid, then the energy flow may make an emergency stop or the voltage of the energy flow may be controlled actively. Still alternatively, this power generation system may have a “parallel off” from the utility grid in order to maintain the grid's stability. Optionally, phase control may be carried out in order to match the voltage phase to that of the utility grid.

Although no household wiring is shown in FIG. 14A, 14B or 14C, the AC energy provided by the output converting section 120 may be connected to the household wiring by way of the power branching section 140 shown in FIG. 4.

Examples Example 1

Hereinafter, a first specific example of the present invention will be described.

First of all, nine single-crystal silicon based solar power generating elements (i.e., solar cells), of which the photosensitive plane had a square surface with a size of 12 cm each side, were connected together in series to obtain a solar power generating section with an output voltage of 4.5 V, an output current of 1 A, and an output impedance of 4.5Ω. And an oscillator with an output frequency of 3 MHz and an output impedance Zoc of 5Ω was connected to the output terminal of that solar power generating section. The oscillator, which was implemented as a class F amplifier, achieved an efficiency of 95%. In this first specific example, the oscillator has a voltage step-up ratio Vtr of 1.05.

The first and second antennas were designed so as to have a resonant frequency of 3 MHz, which was equal to the output frequency of the oscillator. Specifically, the first antenna was fabricated by connecting a first inductor with an inductance of 1.988 μl H and a first capacitor with a capacitance of 830 pF in series together. On the other hand, the second antenna was fabricated by connecting a second inductor with an inductance of 1.988 μH and a second capacitor with a capacitance of 830 pF in parallel with each other. Each of the first and second inductors was a Litz wire that had been formed by arranging multiple sets of 30 copper wires, each having a diameter of 80 μm, in parallel with each other so that those sets were electrically insulated from each other. The two inductors both had a square shape with a size of 36 cm each side and their number of turns was two. Each antenna (or resonator) had a Q factor of 1350.

The first and second antennas were arranged so that their front sides faced each other and were parallel to each other with a gap of g (cm) left between them. And with that gap g varied within the range of 5 cm through 75 cm, the best input and output impedances Zin and Zout that would maximize the wireless transfer efficiency between the resonators with respect to each g value were looked for. The actual measurements were carried out in the following two steps:

First of all, the RF characteristic between the input and output terminals of the two antennas (or resonators) was measured with a network analyzer with a terminal impedance of 50Ω, thereby obtaining measurement data with a reference impedance of 50 Ω.

Next, based on the measurement data thus collected, the impedance conditions Zin and Zout for the input and output terminals that would minimize signal reflection at the terminals were derived by making circuit simulations.

FIG. 15 is a graph showing the g dependences of Zin and Zout derived. On the other hand, FIG. 16 is a graph showing the g dependences of the input/output impedance conversion ratio Zr and the transfer efficiency of the wireless transmission section.

The present inventors discovered that the Zr value was more than one through the entire range of the gap g and that the greater the gap g, the more steeply Zr increased. More specifically, when g=5 cm, Zr was 7.7. When g=7.5 cm, Zr was 20.6. And when g=75 cm, Zr was as large as 23158.

Also, when g=5 mm, the coupling coefficient k between the resonators was 0.376, which is just 4% greater than the k value of 0.361 to be derived for only the wireless transmission section by substituting Voc=1 for Equation (14). These results demonstrated the validity of Equation (14).

FIG. 17 is a graph showing a part of the graph of FIG. 16, where 10 cm≦g≦40 cm, on a larger scale. To get a high Zr value of 147, which was obtained when g=22.5, achieved by a transformer, the ratio of the number of turns of secondary coil to that of primary coil should be set to be 12.1. In a specific example of the present invention, Zr could be increased to 147 while using the first and second antennas that had a number of turns ratio of one.

The forward pass characteristic to be obtained by matching the input and output terminal impedances to the input and output impedances Zin and Zout derived by the method described above corresponds to the wireless transfer efficiency in the power generator of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 17, even when g=22.5 cm, a wireless transfer efficiency of as high as 98.3% could also be achieved.

According to the first specific example of the present invention, by connecting the oscillator described above to the wireless transmission section, RF output could be obtained with an efficiency of as high as 93.1% from the input DC voltage. The voltage step-up ratio with respect to the input DC voltage was 12.7. Only a part of the input power would have turned into heat due to the loss that had been caused by slight mismatch between the circuit blocks.

Comparative Examples 1 to 3

As in Example 1 described above, two power generators, of which the wireless transmission section also included resonators with a resonant frequency of 3 MHz at both the transmitting and receiving ends, were made as Comparative Examples 1 and 2. The only difference between Example 1 and Comparative Examples 1 and 2 was that the two antennas (or resonators) of Comparative Examples 1 and 2 were of the same resonance type. More specifically, in Comparative Example 1, the two antennas thereof were both LC series resonant circuits. On the other hand, in Comparative Example 2, the two antennas thereof were both LC parallel resonant circuits. The circuit constants of each of these resonators were the same as those of Example 1. Meanwhile, Comparative Example 3, which was designed so that no resonance would be produced between the two antennas, was also made.

Example 2

In Example 1 described above, the number of turns N1 of the first inductor of the first antenna was supposed to be equal to the number of turns N2 of the second inductor of the second antenna. On the other hand, as a second specific example of the present invention, a power generator, of which those inductors have mutually different numbers of turns, was fabricated. Specifically, in Example 2, the number of turns N2 was increased from two to four. The antennas themselves had the same dimensions as their counterparts of Example 1 described above.

Example 3

In Example 1 described above, the first and second antennas were supposed to have the same feature size. However, this third specific example of the present invention is a power generator in which the second antenna had a bigger feature size than the first antenna thereof. Specifically, in Example 3, the square that defines the profile of the second antenna had a length of 72 cm each side. Also, in this Example 3, the first and second antennas were arranged so that the line segment connecting together the respective centers of mass of the first and second antennas would cross the arrangement planes of the two antennas at right angles.

Example 4

Furthermore, as a fourth specific example of the present invention, a power generator was made with the arrangement of Example 3 changed. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 8, the first and second antennas were arranged so that when the second antenna's arrangement area (as indicated by the dotted line in FIG. 8) was projected onto the first antenna's arrangement plane, the first antenna would be located substantially within that arrangement area but close to an edge of that area.

The following Table 1 summarizes the structures of the resonators of Example 1, Comparative Examples 1 to 3, and Examples 2 to 4 and also shows the wireless transmission characteristic when g=22.5 cm.

TABLE 1 Resonator at Resonator at Zin Zout Wireless transfer transmitting end receiving end (Ω) (Ω) Vr Zr efficiency (%) Ex. 1 Series Parallel 4.92 725 12.1 147 98.3 resonance resonance Cmp. Series Series 6.4 6.4 1 1 98.6 Ex. 1 resonance resonance Cmp. Parallel Parallel 635 635 1 1 98.6 Ex. 2 resonance resonance Cmp. No No 60 60 1 1 1.1 Ex. 3 resonance resonance Ex. 2 Series Parallel 5.15 1190 15.2 231 98.6 resonance resonance Ex. 3 Series Parallel 9.06 2575 16.9 284 96.7 resonance resonance Ex. 4 Series Parallel 7 2892 20.3 413 96.2 resonance resonance

As can be seen easily from Table 1, in Example 1, a very high voltage step-up ratio Vr could be achieved with high-efficiency power transmission realized wirelessly. Meanwhile, according to Examples 2 to 4, better Zr and Vr than in Example 1 could be obtained.

Example 5

As a fifth specific example of the present invention, a power generator was made by connecting a voltage doubler rectifier circuit to the output of the second antenna with the arrangement of Example 1. The half-wave voltage doubler rectifier circuit thus obtained achieved a DC conversion efficiency of as high as 93.4% at a resonant frequency of 3 MHz. The rectifier circuit thus introduced realized a voltage boosting function with a voltage step-up ratio Vtr of two, at which the output DC voltage would be twice as high as the input RF voltage. And with respect to the output energy of the solar power generating section, the output DC energy provided by the power generator of this example still had an intensity of 86.4%.

Example 6

As a sixth specific example of the present invention, a power generator was made by connecting a bridge rectifier circuit to the output of the second antenna with the arrangement of Example 1. The bridge rectifier circuit thus obtained achieved a DC conversion efficiency of as high as 94.1% at a resonant frequency of 3 MHz. With such a rectifier circuit introduced, the output DC energy provided by the power generator of this example had an intensity of 87.0% with respect to the output energy of the solar power generating section.

Example 7

With the conditions of Example 6 partially modified, a power generator representing a seventh specific example of the present invention was made under the conditions including Voc=1.52 and g=15 cm. The power generator of Example 7 achieved an output voltage of 308 V and a power generation efficiency of 87.2%.

Example 8 and Comparative Example 4

A power generation system was formed as an eighth specific example of the present invention by connecting seven power generators of Example 7 in parallel with each other, thereby achieving an output voltage of 308 V and a generated power of 27.5 W. In the same way, a power generation system was formed as Comparative Example 4 by connecting 63 solar cells in series together. The following Table 2 summarizes the characteristics of Example 8 and Comparative Example 4:

TABLE 2 Total Number of Number of number of cells cells Output cells connected in connected voltage Generated used parallel in series (V) power (W) Ex. 8 63 7 9 308 27.5 Cmp. 63 1 63 31.5 31.1 Ex. 4

Although seven series of cells were connected in parallel with each other inside of the system, Example 8 achieved 9.8 times as high an output voltage as Comparative Example 4.

The present invention can reduce the installation cost of a power generator and can simplify the replacement work if a part of its power generating section has deteriorated. In addition, according to the present invention, the output voltage of the power generating section can be increased easily. That is why if the power generating section needs to be formed by connecting power generating elements (or cells) with a low output voltage in series together, the number of those power generating elements to be connected can be reduced significantly. As a result, a solar power generation system, of which the performance would be affected by partial shading to a much lesser degree and which can supply power with good stability, is provided. Likewise, the voltage step-up produced by the present invention will also result in many beneficial effects in a fuel cell system, which is a power generation system that should function as a link to pass the output energy supplied from a power generating device at a low voltage to a utility grid with a high working voltage.

While the present invention has been described with respect to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the disclosed invention may be modified in numerous ways and may assume many embodiments other than those specifically described above. Accordingly, it is intended by the appended claims to cover all modifications of the invention that fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention. 

1. A power generator comprising: a power generating section that outputs DC energy; an oscillator that converts the DC energy into RF energy having a frequency f0; a first antenna that transmits the RF energy, the first antenna including a first inductor and a first capacitor that are connected together in series to form a series resonant circuit with a resonant frequency fT; a second antenna that receives, by coupling a resonant magnetic field, at least a part of the RF energy that has been transmitted by the first antenna, the second antenna including a second inductor and a second capacitor that are connected in parallel with each other to form a parallel resonant circuit with a resonant frequency fR; and an output converting section that converts the RF energy that has been supplied from the second antenna into AC energy having a lower frequency than the RF energy, wherein the resonant frequencies fT and fR are set to be substantially equal to the frequency f0 of the RF energy, and if the oscillator has a voltage step-up ratio Voc, the output converting section has a voltage step-up ratio Vtr, the first inductor has an inductance L1, the second inductor has an inductance L2, and the first and second antennas have a coupling coefficient k, the power generator satisfies (L2/L1) (k/(Voc×Vtr))².
 2. The power generator of claim 1, wherein the power generating section is a solar power generating section.
 3. The power generator of claim 1, wherein (L2/L1)≧100×(k/(Voc×Vtr))² is satisfied.
 4. The power generator of claim 1, wherein (L2/L1)≧10000×(k/(Voc×Vtr))² is satisfied.
 5. The power generator of claim 1, wherein the power generating section and the first antenna are arranged outside of a building.
 6. The power generator of claim 1, wherein L1<L2 is satisfied.
 7. The power generator of claim 1, wherein the number N2 of turns of the second inductor is greater than the number N1 of turns of the first inductor.
 8. The power generator of claim 1, wherein the area of the second inductor is larger than the area of the first inductor.
 9. The power generator of claim 8, wherein when the first and second inductors are projected onto the first antenna's arrangement plane, the first inductor is included within an area defined by the projected profile of the second inductor.
 10. The power generator of claim 9, wherein when the first and second inductors are projected onto the first antenna's arrangement plane, the first inductor is located close to the periphery of the area defined by the projected profile of the second inductor.
 11. The power generator of claim 1, comprising a power branching section that connects the output converting section to household wiring and a commercial power grid.
 12. A power generation system comprising a number of power generators, wherein in at least two of the power generators, their output terminals are connected in parallel with each other, and wherein the at least two power generators are as defined by claim
 1. 13. A power generation system comprising: a number of power generating and voltage increasing sections; and an output converting section, in which at least two of the power generating and voltage increasing sections have their output terminals connected in parallel with each other and which converts RF energy, supplied from the output terminals, into AC energy having a lower frequency than the RF energy, and wherein each of the at least two power generating and voltage increasing sections includes: a power generating section that outputs DC energy; an oscillator that converts the DC energy into RF energy having a frequency f0; a first antenna that transmits the RF energy, the first antenna including a first inductor and a first capacitor that are connected together in series to form a series resonant circuit with a resonant frequency fT; and a second antenna that receives, by coupling a resonant magnetic field, at least a part of the RF energy that has been transmitted by the first antenna, the second antenna including a second inductor and a second capacitor that are connected in parallel with each other to form a parallel resonant circuit with a resonant frequency fR and supplying the RF energy to the output terminals, and wherein the resonant frequencies fT and fR are set to be substantially equal to the frequency f0 of the RF energy, and if the oscillator has a voltage step-up ratio Voc, the output converting section has a voltage step-up ratio Vtr, the first inductor has an inductance L1, the second inductor has an inductance L2, and the first and second antennas have a coupling coefficient k, the power generation system satisfies (L2/L1)≧(k/(Voc×vtr))². 